CADL Presents: Young Voices

Congratulations to all of the contributors to the Summer 2009 Teen Literary Magazine, CADL Presents: Young Voices. The submissions were fantastic!

CADL Presents: Young Voices is a collection of poetry, stories, artwork, photography and comics by area teens. In the coming weeks, a hard copy of the magazine will be available to check out at your local library. Currently, the magazine is available online in our eBook collection. Follow the link below to check out and download a copy today!

CADL Presents: Young Voices

A special congratulations is in order for Garrett S., age 11 of Williamston whose photo The Team is featured on the magazine’s front and back cover. Garrett’s photo was the winning entry in the “A Day in the Life of Williamston” photo contest.

If you like this edition of the CADL Teen Literary Magazine, check out some others.

Dare to Be
By: Teens Like You

Haslett Library Teen Advisory Board Presents:
The Teen Literary Magazine

Posted by ErinS

Who Watches the Watchmen?

The critically acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore hit the theaters with much anticipation on March 6, 2009. Now, less than five months later the DVD release is finally here.

The world of the Watchmen is set in an alternative 1985 where Nixon is still President, the Cold War is still in full force and the threat of a nuclear apocalypse seems closer than ever. The story follows the lives of the now retired costumed heroes as they attempt to make sense of the recent murder of their former costumed colleague, the Comedian. Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre and the rest are left to ask if there is really a plot to eliminate costumed heroes or something much worse.

The “heroes” of the Watchmen are not the super-powered superheroes of the Marvel Universe but regular, everyday people who, inspired by the comic book crime fighters of their past decided to don costumes and take up arms on the side of justice and virtue. However, the careers of the costumed crime fighters were not to last as the public began to question their motives and intentions by asking “Who Watches the Watchmen?”

With the release of the movie this week on DVD and BluRay we want to know “who is watching the Watchmen?”

But if you are a fan of Watchmen do not stop there, check out the plethora of other materials available from the world of the Watchmen.

Watchmen (Motion Picture)  DVD | BluRay

Watchmen: The Art of the Film by Peter Aperlo

Watchmen: Portraits by Clay Enos

Watchmen: Music From the Motion Picture

Watchmen and Philosophy: A Rorschach Test / edited by Mark D. White

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic  DVD | BluRay

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter

Watchmen (Graphic Novel)

Posted by ThomasM

The Secret History of the Joker

In case you’ve been keeping score, The Dark Knight just passed half-a-billion dollars at the box office (it’s now second only to Titanic). It’s a bona fide pop culture phenomenon, and a big part of that success is the late Heath Ledger’s much talked-about turn as Batman’s nemesis, the Joker … and he’s sure to be even more talked-about as Oscar time approaches.

But where did the Joker come from? I’m not talking about his comic book backstory, which has been left shrouded in mystery (the recently re-released The Killing Joke gave what many people consider the definitive version). Heath Ledger inherited the role from such greats as Jack Nicholson (Tim Burton’s Batman) and Mark Hamill (Batman: The Animated Series), who in turn looked back to other actors, and eventually to Batman creator Bob Kane, whose original 1940 Joker tale can be read in The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1.

But Kane had his own inspiration when he created the Joker: an obscure silent film from 1928 called The Man Who Laughs. The film (actually more of a melodrama than a horror picture) starred actor Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine, a man doomed to live life with a permanent grin literally carved into his face. Sound familiar? Take a look at the DVD cover, or do a Google image search, and you’ll see that Kane got all the visual inspiration he needed!

But the story doesn’t end there. The Man Who Laughs was not an original screenplay. It was, in fact, based on a 1869 French novel of the same name (in French, L’Homme qui rit) by author Victor Hugo. If that name sounds familiar, it should, because Hugo is among the most famous novelists of all time. He’s the one who gave us The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables, to name a few.

So the next time you’re watching The Dark Knight or reading your favorite Batman graphic novel, just think … it all goes back to a 19th Century Frenchman with a timeless imagination!

Summer Blockbuster Edition: DARK KNIGHT vs. BIG RED

Two furious-fisted comic book heroes are duking it out at the box office this summer!

In corner one, we have Hellboy, star of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, from creator Mike Mignola and director Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth). Hellboy’s tale began with the graphic novel Seed of Destruction. The most recent volume, number eight, is Darkness Calls. The Weird Tales and B.P.R.D. series expand Hellboy’s universe, and there’s also an impressively huge art book called (surprise, surprise) The Art of Hellboy.

In corner two, we have the Batman, star of The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins). In addition to the novelization by bat-scribe Dennis O’Neil, we’ve got enough Batman-related books to fill multiple bat-caves! The Dark Knight Archives are perfect for anyone who wants to see how Batman really began … but if the film left you in the mood for more Joker, try Batman: Secrets or No Man’s Land, Vol. 5. You can also check out Batman: Faces, for a great Two-Face story.

Still hungry for more movie-related multimedia? You can investigate The X-Files with Mulder and Scully, groove out to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, keep an eye on the Watchmen, learn to draw Wall-E, raid the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, or even take a Journey to the Center of the Earth.

It’s all here at your local CADL location!

Classic ’80s Fantasy Meets American Manga

During the 1980s, Jim Henson (The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller) brought two ambitious live-action fantasy films to the screen: Labyrinth (starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connolly) and The Dark Crystal. The films failed to find their audience at the box office — but today, thanks to the millions of teens who later discovered them on home video, they’re more popular than ever! A new Dark Crystal movie is even in the works for 2009, and will be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars).

As part of this phenomenon, TokyoPop has launched two new manga series: Return to Labyrinth (a sequel) and Legends of the Dark Crystal (a prequel). These are drawn in the style of Japanese comics, but produced entirely in America, so they read left-to-right (many manga translated from the Japanese read right-to-left, as they do in Japan).

CADL has (or has ordered) the initial volumes in these series. They’re perfect for fantasy fans, manga fans, or fans of the films. Also on the way: The Goblins of Labyrinth, featuring the artwork by Brian Froud that inspired the film, with text by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. Don’t miss it!

P.S. Fans of these films/books may also be interested to check out the Henson-produced fantasy film Mirrormask, now available on DVD.

Comic Books at the Library!

Believe it or not, it looks likely that sometime in the near future your library will start carrying comic books. This would work and look very similar to what your library already does with magazines. There are still a few details to work out however, and one of them brings me to the topic of this post.

What types of comic books would interest you? We have a large list of titles we are already considering, but frankly, this list is largely based on the comics that I would like to read. While this sounds great to me, it might not be the best way to spend our entire comic budget. We would like to know what comic titles you would like us to start collecting. Are you a super hero fan, or do you prefer Manga? Maybe you like humorous comics, or something more dramatic. Just for a frame of reference I will list some examples of titles that we are considering. However, keep in mind that this is just a quick list based on what I enjoy, and we want to change it to reflect what you want to see.

-The Walking Dead
-Ultimate Spiderman
-Wolverine Origins
-Teen Titans
-Y the Last Man
-World War Hulk
-Naruto
-World of Warcraft
-Batman
-Ultimate’s

f you have ever wanted to have some direct influence over what materials your library purchases now is your chance. Please email us at bernsteinj@cadl.org, or use the comments field to tell us what types of comics you would be interested in reading at your library. Better yet, give us the names of some specific titles or series you would like us to purchase and you just might find them on the shelf at your library very soon.